Enrollment grows at Muskegon Heights charter schools after years of decline

Enrollment at Muskegon Heights Public School Academy has grown about 7 percent since October.MLive file photo

MUSKEGON HEIGHTS, MI – Enrollment at Muskegon Heights’ charter school system has grown during the year, bucking the trend of declining enrollment that plagued the schools for years.

Enrollment at the Muskegon Heights Public School Academy has grown by 77 students – or nearly 7 percent – according to unofficial pupil counts. The district’s October enrollment was 1,112 students, compared with 1,189 in February, said Alena Zachery-Ross, superintendent of the charter school district.

She said the district had heard many predictions that it would lose students as the school year went on.

“We didn’t have this mass exodus that people thought we would have,” Zachery-Ross said, adding that the high school did lose some students.

Enrollment remains about 300 students below what it had been last year and the district is working to encourage former students to return. Management of the district’s four schools, which were turned into charter schools by the district’s emergency financial manager this school year, is overseen by Mosaica Education Inc.

Parents, students and staff have recorded radio station advertisements encouraging students to return to the school district.

“They have a story. We want to tell their story,” Zachery-Ross said. “There are some telling stories that are really heart-warming.”

MLive and The Muskegon Chronicle had requested in February an enrollment figure from Mosaica, but one was not provided. Public districts and charter schools perform two official counts – one in October and one in February – that are used to determine state aid.

Most local school districts reported a small drop in enrollment since fall, which officials said is typical.